# Sour Beer



## Capt.Toad (Jun 3, 2014)

Has anyone ever tried sour beer? Supposedly they are becoming very popular. I had never heard of them before until I bought a six pack of Boulevard Hibiscus Gose. At first I thought it was the worst beer ever, but as I finish off the six pack they taste better every bottle.


----------



## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

Never tried it, but I suppose the more you drink something, the more your taste becomes used to it. I don't know how I would feel about sour beer. I like sour ciders, but not beer.


----------



## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Yes, often referred to as Farmhouse Ales or Lambics sour beers are quite an acquired taste and not for the faint of heart. I have tried many and have never been able to finish one.


----------



## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Love them! Boulevard makes Tank 7 which is very good, labeled a Farmhouse Ale.

If you have access to Boulevard try and find some Love Child and then send it to me 

I would love to try Boulevard Hibiscus Gose, hoping it makes its way here.

Let us know if you have any specific questions.


----------



## ezlevor (Oct 29, 2012)

I love it, and I'm very grateful that New Glarus has their sour/wild fruit cave.


----------



## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

ezlevor said:


> I love it, and I'm very grateful that New Glarus has their sour/wild fruit cave.


I just got a few of New Glarus in the mail from a friend, I am looking forward to cracking them open this weekend.


----------



## profanitypete (Jul 18, 2014)

I enjoy them, but they're definitely not a beer for the faint of heart, nor are they beers you can drink all night long (or I can't).


----------



## Drez_ (Jan 30, 2014)

Capt.Toad said:


> Has anyone ever tried sour beer? Supposedly they are becoming very popular. I had never heard of them before until I bought a six pack of Boulevard Hibiscus Gose. At first I thought it was the worst beer ever, but as I finish off the six pack they taste better every bottle.


Isn't that the case with any beer if you finish off the six pack in one sitting? :biglaugh: As for a serious answer, nope never tried any sour beer.. Not something I'd particular enjoy, I think..


----------



## Chad202 (Jul 29, 2014)

Now youre talking my language!

Ive tried plenty but the best to me are the Bruery Tart Of Darkness and the Rodenbach Grand Cru. Word to the uninitiated: The flavors can be very intense but a good smoke always accentuated my experiences. Give some a try. Its worth it.


----------



## beercritic (Feb 13, 2011)

Some of the Belgian Lambics are insanely sour. I've had some I couldn't finish. Lindeman makes some wonderful Lambics, more of a sweet & sour. The Kriek (cherry) is sublime. You'll need a corkscrew once you pop the bottle cap.


----------



## Str8ShooterEsq (Jul 5, 2013)

Sour beer is wonderful, but it is an acquired taste. You have nothing to lose in trying it.


----------



## fiddlegrin (Feb 8, 2009)

I too have had Lambics... meh

Something to remember is that they are "wild" yeasts. So we can't expect their next batch to be like the last batch we had.

:beerchug:


----------



## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

beercritic said:


> Some of the Belgian Lambics are insanely sour. I've had some I couldn't finish. Lindeman makes some wonderful Lambics, more of a sweet & sour. The Kriek (cherry) is sublime. You'll need a corkscrew once you pop the bottle cap.


Yes the term Lambic throws a lot of people because they expect it to be sweet like Lindeman's and get quite surprise upon tasting their first true lambic.


----------



## Capt.Toad (Jun 3, 2014)

I'm sure they will never be my favorite, but I'll be trying some more from time to time. Too many other great beers out there especially this time of year!


----------



## dj1340 (Mar 30, 2009)

The Kimmie, The Yink & The Holy Gose by Anderson Valley is pretty good. I can only drink one but it does clean the palate pretty well


----------



## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

Blech! Never liked the Lambic's or other sour type beers. Wife love the sour grapefruit tasting stuff and has been slurping down Boulevards Hibiscus Gose every chance she gets.
@Rock31 ya know I'm in the KC area right? And that my work is only 15 mins from the Boulevard brewery.....


----------



## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

Blech! Never liked the Lambic's or other sour type beers. Wife love the sour grapefruit tasting stuff and has been slurping down Boulevards Hibiscus Gose every chance she gets.
@Rock31 ya know I'm in the KC area right? And that my work is only 15 mins from the Boulevard brewery.....


----------



## Cardinal (Jun 14, 2013)

Had a Flanders Sour a few months back and have had my good eye watching for a chance to repeat. It was great and vaguely reminded me of those little Sweet 'n Sour disc candies. Delicious.


----------



## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

piperdown said:


> Blech! Never liked the Lambic's or other sour type beers. Wife love the sour grapefruit tasting stuff and has been slurping down Boulevards Hibiscus Gose every chance she gets.
> 
> @Rock31 ya know I'm in the KC area right? And that my work is only 15 mins from the Boulevard brewery.....


Yes I know, scary. I try to avoid asking people to help me get beer, after shipping costs a lot of times it is just too much to spend on beer


----------



## Heath (Aug 16, 2013)

Eric, I didn't know you're in kc. are you a member of the greater kc pipe club? that wasn't me that almost ran you off the road.


piperdown said:


> Blech! Never liked the Lambic's or other sour type beers. Wife love the sour grapefruit tasting stuff and has been slurping down Boulevards Hibiscus Gose every chance she gets.
> 
> @Rock31 ya know I'm in the KC area right? And that my work is only 15 mins from the Boulevard brewery.....


----------



## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

Heath said:


> Eric, I didn't know you're in kc. are you a member of the greater kc pipe club? that wasn't me that almost ran you off the road.


No, but I used to be a member of the KC Cigar Aficionado club on meet up.

Went down to Cigar and Tabac a couple times over the years when the pipe club was there but nothing regular.
I work just off of the county club plaza.


----------



## Heath (Aug 16, 2013)

cool, I work all over the city did a roof top garden on ward and roenoke a few years back. im up near parkville thats where the wifes shop is. you smoke a pipe too right


----------



## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

Heath said:


> cool, I work all over the city did a roof top garden on ward and roenoke a few years back. im up near parkville thats where the wifes shop is. you smoke a pipe too right


Yep, have a selection of pipes I've gathered over the years. Cooler weather like we've been having causes me to gravitate towards them.

Back on topic....


----------



## Bruck (Jan 8, 2013)

Nope, never even heard of such a thing. I'll have to give it a try!

OTOH, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from a "smoked" beer that a friend suggested uke:


----------



## Heath (Aug 16, 2013)

was it voodoo donut beer from rogue brewery nasty I mean nasty one sip pour it out nasty



Bruck said:


> Nope, never even heard of such a thing. I'll have to give it a try!
> 
> OTOH, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from a "smoked" beer that a friend suggested uke:


----------



## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Heath said:


> was it voodoo donut beer from rogue brewery nasty I mean nasty one sip pour it out nasty


Tastes? I love that beer!


----------



## Heath (Aug 16, 2013)

tastes you know that's right. imo some things shouldn't be in beer liquid smoke being one of them. pocket lint is a close second. I haven't seen it for some time they were giving it away at the liquor store here so I grab a few. I love the dead guy pale ale they make though


MDSPHOTO said:


> Tastes? I love that beer!


----------



## Bruck (Jan 8, 2013)

Heath said:


> was it voodoo donut beer from rogue brewery nasty I mean nasty one sip pour it out nasty


I don't remember the brands - I tried three different kinds and each one worse than the others.


----------



## Bruck (Jan 8, 2013)

Heath said:


> tastes you know that's right. imo some things shouldn't be in beer liquid smoke being one of them. pocket lint is a close second. I haven't seen it for some time they were giving it away at the liquor store here so I grab a few. I love the dead guy pale ale they make though


I once got a mouthful of mold or fungus from a Weidemanns. You can add that to your list.


----------



## HIM (Sep 12, 2012)

If you want to know what sours look like while fermenting take a look at the pics in this thread. If you love sours you'll likely find it beautiful...

Pellicle Photo Collection - Page 3 - Home Brew Forums


----------



## ezlevor (Oct 29, 2012)

As a homebrewer who doesn't brew sours, just drinks them, everything about those pictures just seem bad and wrong. I love it.


----------



## HIM (Sep 12, 2012)

ezlevor said:


> As a homebrewer who doesn't brew sours, just drinks them, everything about those pictures just seem bad and wrong. I love it.


the first time you see pics like that its really something to try and wrap your brain around lol. Especially the fruited sours, they always seem to have the most wicked pellicles. It really makes you wonder "and I drink this stuff?" ound:


----------



## HIM (Sep 12, 2012)

Heres some pics of a Rhubarb Berliner Weiss I brewed a couple years ago. I infected the batch with lactobacillus that I cultured from barley husk then soured the wort in my boil kettle for 3 days. See how much you sours fans still like sours after seeing this lol.


----------



## ezlevor (Oct 29, 2012)

I suppose normal beer looks pretty gross as well. 

and a rhubarb berliner!? my lord. That sounds fantastic.


----------



## Heath (Aug 16, 2013)

I must try this berliner. rhubarb in there sounds good too . looks good to me.


----------



## mpls (Sep 7, 2012)

@HIM, some good looking $hit right there!


----------



## pippin925 (Jan 3, 2013)

I went on a binge with sours this spring/summer and find them to be the perfect warm weather beer. I classify sours into 2 groups. Farmhouse style and fruit sours. That's probably doing the style an injustice, but that's the way I look at them. From what i understand it's a difficult and time consuming brew process so the cost of a good sour is fairly high, but worth it IMHO. Here are some of my favs that are fairly easy to get without having to chase them. 
Liefmans
Petrus
Uinta Birthday Suit
Bruery Sour in the Rye
Goose Island - Lolita, Juliet, Matilda
Boulevard - Love Child, Tank7


----------



## HIM (Sep 12, 2012)

Scott you bring up some interesting points I may be able to elaborate on for those interested. Sour beers are sour because the wort is partially fermented with souring bacteria, specifically Pediococcus cerevisiae and lacto-bacillous, which convert the sugar into lactic acid. This process usually takes place after the normal Saccharomyces(ale yeast) fermentation has finished. Once the batch is "infected" the bacteria then slowly ferment the remaining sugars types ale yeast are unable to ferment. This is the part that takes a while as the bacteria work slow. In addition many sours are also fermented with Brettanomyces(wild yeast) which gives off a variety of esters imparting a range of flavors from fruit to funky barnyard type notes. Brett is also a slow mover and takes time to really build up its character in a beer. When you add all this stuff up it creates one damn long timeline for a beer to go from grain to glass!!
Its also worth noting that not all wild ales are sours and not all sours have a funky character.



mpls said:


> @HIM, some good looking $hit right there!


thanks, it was pretty tasty :biggrin:


----------



## mpls (Sep 7, 2012)

HIM said:


> Scott you bring up some interesting points I may be able to elaborate on for those interested. Sour beers are sour because the wort is partially fermented with souring bacteria, specifically Pediococcus cerevisiae and lacto-bacillous, which convert the sugar into lactic acid. This process usually takes place after the normal Saccharomyces(ale yeast) fermentation has finished. Once the batch is "infected" the bacteria then slowly ferment the remaining sugars types ale yeast are unable to ferment. This is the part that takes a while as the bacteria work slow. In addition many sours are also fermented with Brettanomyces(wild yeast) which gives off a variety of esters imparting a range of flavors from fruit to funky barnyard type notes. Brett is also a slow mover and takes time to really build up its character in a beer. When you add all this stuff up it creates one damn long timeline for a beer to go from grain to glass!!
> Its also worth noting that not all wild ales are sours and not all sours have a funky character.
> 
> thanks, it was pretty tasty :biggrin:


Good stuff, not to mention some are pasteurized and some aren't, which completely changes the evolution of the beer (note I'm not a brewer, so HIM can go into much further detail than I).


----------



## fiddlegrin (Feb 8, 2009)

Heath said:


> was it ................ from rogue brewery? ................


I've been to the Brewery in Or. and didn't see such a brew, but it was a few years ago that I was there. Don was there the same summer :nod: but we missed each other by a couple weeks.... I liked every thing I tried of theirs that trip, including one with a jalapeno influence :dance:


----------



## NorCalJaybird (Sep 2, 2014)

MDSPHOTO said:


> Yes, often referred to as Farmhouse Ales or Lambics sour beers are quite an acquired taste and not for the faint of heart. I have tried many and have never been able to finish one.


Farmhouse is a Belgian Saison style. Not a sour per style. Sours are something totally on the other spectrum of Belgian. Many sour a saison for sure! But not alll Saisons are Sour. Totally agree they are an acquired taste! I am not a huge fan myself either.

Look up BJCP category 17 for sours. BJCP 16 C (I think) for Saison

Cheers
Jay


----------



## dotsamantha (Oct 5, 2014)

I'm a huge fan of sours. I enjoy a variety of beers but I particularly like stout and sour, depending on my mood, season, etc. Rodenbach is a particularly popular brand, a Flemish Red style. Cantillon Gueuze is also outstanding. A few great pubs and a fantastic Belgian restaurant on Long Island in New York carry great selections. They're great when you need to wake up your palate.


----------



## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

NorCalJaybird said:


> Farmhouse is a Belgian Saison style. Not a sour per style.
> 
> Cheers
> Jay


Thanks for correcting this, one would think that a guy that spent 8-years in Belgium would know better.


----------



## LGHT (Oct 12, 2009)

My bro was a long time bar owner in LA and we do a lot of tasting / events and I prefer the Belgian Saison style. Most sours aren't really "bad", but they just aren't as good as other beers in my opinion so I would rarely drink a sour over a nice porter or stout. I think with all the good beers available sours are just the fad for the time being. I recall the same thing with honey based light beers around 10-15 years ago.


----------



## HIM (Sep 12, 2012)

LGHT said:


> My bro was a long time bar owner in LA and we do a lot of tasting / events and I prefer the Belgian Saison style. Most sours aren't really "bad", but they just aren't as good as other beers in my opinion so I would rarely drink a sour over a nice porter or stout. I think with all the good beers available sours are just the fad for the time being. I recall the same thing with honey based light beers around 10-15 years ago.


Definitely a fad but I think its here to stay like IPAs. Its something that had been missing in the US beer scene and people have really come around on their taste for it. Were just going through a renaissance being introduced to traditional styles. Its been a long time coming.


----------



## Charger Fan (Feb 27, 2014)

Hangar 24 makes a orange citrus ale. More lemon sour than OJ sweet. It's OK.


----------



## Capt.Toad (Jun 3, 2014)

Citrus is good too! Not sour but not your traditional beer flavor either. I came across some Schell - Schell Shocked which has grapefruit in it. They are awesome with breakfast!


----------



## B-daddy (Oct 29, 2012)

I generally like them (sours). Had a crazy version the other day; Duchesse de Borgnone. More of a Flemish red but definitely sour. Tasted like high end balsamic vinegar. I didn't rely want to finish it but an interesting flavor none the less.


----------

